EFCC Accuses Sahara Reporters, Lawyer Of Malicious Publication Over Quest To Privatize Niger Delta Communities’ Funds

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has said it viewed with serious displeasure insinuations contained in a news story carried by Sahara Reporters, entitled: “DSS Abducts Lawyer Moses Oddiri in Lagos After Petition on Diversion Of Funds By EFCC Chairman…”. 

In a statement Friday signed by Dele Oyewale, Head, Media & Publicity, EFCC, the anti-graft agency stated that the story, contrived to portray the arrest of Oddiri “on the orders and petition of the EFCC’s Chairman on alleged diversion of funds intended for a community that Moses has been advocating for over the years”, was falsehood taken too far.

“Oddiri’s story is a story of pursuit of self interests against communal welfare. The Niger Delta Host Community Trust Fund, paid into the bank accounts of two Host Community Benefit Trusts, HCBTs, as prescribed by the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA, is the bone of contention. Oddiri wanted the funds paid into his Non- Governmental Organisation, NGO’s account in flagrant violation of the PIA,” EFCC stated.

“The background to the payment of the funds is this: the EFCC Chairman, incensed by the delayed payment of the fund to two host communities in Delta State, directed that diligent investigations be carried out. Defaulting companies were uncovered and the results of the probe led to the payment of the funds as prescribed by the PIA and Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, guidelines.

“The funds, paid in 2024, were lodged in the bank accounts of the two HCBTs. However, since the payment was made, Oddiri has been on the offensive against the EFCC and its Executive Chairman that it was not paid into his NGO account.

“On the strength of his illegal and self- centred quest, the EFCC has called for a stakeholder meeting with community leaders, regulators and representatives of oil companies in the two host communities at two consecutive times, first in Lagos and then in Abuja.

“In one of the meetings, the EFCC Chairman pointed out that, “our role is to ensure that funds designated for a particular community are not diverted elsewhere, that unauthorized individuals do not illicitly benefit, and that resources are channeled into tangible development projects such as electricity and potable water”.

“Gangsteric moves and campaign of calumny against the EFCC Chairman are not new. His spiteful, malicious and unfounded claims of diversion of the funds by the EFCC’s boss had been on different social media platforms, including Sahara Reporters. The Commission is raising a suit against this latest malicious publication by the online portal

“The EFCC is aware that the same asinine claims have severally been made against Heritage Energy Operational Services, HEOS, Ltd. Leaders of the two host communities are aware of his egocentric desires and can be contacted for verification. There are legal suits already initiated against the serial blackmailer by both the EFCC Chairman and HEOS, in this regard, as well as a petition to the Department of State Security, DSS.

“While the EFCC will not be stampeded or blackmailed into compromising extant legal frameworks for the disbursement of the funds to the two host communities, the media is enjoined to always balance its reporting and not allow characters like Oddiri sway it into prejudice and blackmail. The EFCC is focussed on its mandate and will continue to act in the overall best interests of the nation.”